We, the parents, youth, educators, and community organizations signed below, thoroughly condemn House Bill 8318 for recklessly endangering Providence children in the interest of appeasing pro-gun lobbyists and generating profits for institutionalized policing.
HB8318 would enable the (mis)direction of funding into the “provi[sions] of armed security personnel and security for all kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) schools along with additional security devices and plans,” as well as the implementation of “armed police coverage for schools.” This waste of resources alone would be enough grounds to reject the bill, given the lack of evidence to show that these policing apparatuses are effective at keeping students safe. It seems especially ill-informed given the tragedy in Uvalde, which had invested $435,270 on security and monitoring services for schools this year alone, alongside another $69,000 in 2020. If we already know from history – especially very recent history – that these expenditures are ineffective, it is blatantly unwise (mis)use our resources in this way. More than that, it is both dangerous and harmful when so much of our basic infrastructure – water fountains, floors, ceilings, and other facilities that actually keep our students healthy and safe – remain underfunded.
Beyond just a waste of funds, this bill will actively harm our youth – especially B/I/POC, LGBTQ+, and/or disabled youth who are disproportionately targeted (and often assaulted) by school officers. Rather than resemblant of prisons, schools should be places of belonging, learning, and joy. By greeting students with police coverage, security devices, and other enforcers of state surveillance, we preemptively fail to achieve any of these three goals, and we fail our students by extension. How is a student meant to feel that they matter, safe, or cared for when they are treated as criminals from the moment they walk through the doors?
Not to mention the dangerous implications of putting decision-making control in the hands of the National Rifle Association (NRA). HB8318 proposes the “[establishment of] a Rhode Island school emergency response committee whose principal function shall include, but not be limited to, developing and reporting to the Rhode Island general assembly each January 31, school facility security measures, which shall be presented for implementation by legislation…comprised of eight (8) members…[including] two (2) representatives from the firearms community with certifications chosen by the NRA state association.” Why should the NRA, whose explicit goals are not in the area of education nor the wellbeing of our youth – but, rather, to further the interests of pro-gun lobbyists – have the authority to shape our school safety policies? To grant them any sort of representation in this matter is strange enough, and to mandate that they hold twenty-five percent of the overall seats is highly alarming. This alone ought to cast suspicions over the real aims of this bill and call into question the motives of the politicians behind it. Decisions of such crucial significance, such as those that concern our students’ safety, should be made based on the goal of student safety and safety alone, rather than the interests of whoever’s funding the next electoral campaign.
These suspicions are only further fueled by the bill’s requirement that all committee meetings be kept secret from the public: “all meetings regarding the school security committee are not subject to the open meetings law…and documents produced including, but not limited to, meeting minutes and the school security measures are not subject to the access to public records.” What do we have to gain from this measure of obscurity? What sort of decisions are being made that are so unpalatable that they must be kept private? Any policy discussion pertaining to the safety of our youth must be fully transparent to and with, rather than for, our community.
To summarize: HB8318 damages our students’ mental health, by denying the funding needed for even the bare minimum number of school counselors; stamps out their drive, by treating them as criminals rather than children; and threatens them with physical harm by the frequently documented power abuses of school officers against students. All in all, HB8318 would directly contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline and put all of our children, especially those most vulnerable, at risk of irreparable harm. These failings are further compounded by the unexplained need to include the NRA in private, closed-door discussions around how and where security-related funding should be spent. It’s for all these reasons and more that we see this bill as detrimental to our community, our children, and their futures. In the interest of protecting our youth, we call on this bill to be rejected.
